Crash Bandicoot: The Restart
by Bee Czar
Summary: (AU) The machinations of Dr. Neo Cortex and Dr. Nitrus Brio are moving forward in earnest. But things have changed, and the timeline has been completely rearranged. Crash and Coco Bandicoot remain the only ones that can stop the mad doctors.
1. Set Into Motion

Disclaimer: Crash Bandicoot is (c) Activision. 2019.

**Crash Bandicoot: The Restart**

**Chapter One **

**Set into Motion  
**

In the beginning, the Wumpa Islands were one of the planet's best kept secrets. A hidden archipelago flowing with all manner of mystical energy - both light and dark. A powder keg of magic that could bring eternal strife upon the planet if misused or improperly tampered with.

Due to the energies on these Wumpa Islands, all manner of fauna and flora evolved and thrived.

Dozens of carnivorous plants sprouted from sand and volcanic soil.

Earthworms grew huge, feral, and ravenous.

For some reason or another, there was even a large population of bandicoots dwelling across the five islands. While omnivorous, the critters were typically the underdogs bullied by every other large predator and malicious prey species. In all honesty, the tiny things didn't have much going for them.

And then, the infamously renowned Cortex family just so happened to discover the islands in the late 1800s and claimed the island chain for themselves. The Cortex bloodline was a long and noble legacy of aristocrats, entrepreneurs, energy moguls, and...mad scientists.

Example: Doctor Neo Periwinkle Cortex.

Neo "Crybaby" Cortex was one of the few students to actually survive and graduate from Madame Amberly's Academy of Evil in '85 (despite Madame Amberly's best efforts), graduated from Megapolis University (with honors, of course), and returned home to Castle Cortex on N. Sanity Island to scheme and plan. After usurping his parents and sealing them away into a timeless pocket dimension, of course.

There were stories that Cortex's grandparents had told him in his youth of the secrets beneath the lands. Legends of ancient crystals and gems that could bring the world to its knees in servitude if used in the hands of someone that knew what they were doing. These were stories that Neo Cortex never forgot. Stories that he never stopped believing in.

Myths that would fueled the path that Neo had carved out for himself over the years.

Even genius visionaries needed underlings, however. Which is why Dr. Cortex reached out to fellow mad scientist and former classmate from the academy days Dr. Nitrus Brio, and proposed a team up to conquer their planet and beyond. Their skill sets had always complimented one another, after all.

Dr. Cortex was the Evil Physics Major with an Evil Minor in Genetics.

Dr. N. Brio was the Evil Chemist, Evil Engineer, and Evil Computer Programmer.

Together the two madmen created the bio-mechanical Lab Assistants as their enforcers, guards, and cannon fodder. Despite their designated titles, the Lab Assistants weren't the brightest creations due to Dr. Cortex cutting corners and building their brains out of scrap tech from the early 90s.

The Lab Assistant drones were excellent as enforcers and guards, but their actual intellect left much to be desired due to Dr. Cortex cutting corners and their operating systems being tech from the early 90s. Still, they served their purpose well enough to suffice.

Then, after a fair bit of time, the two doctors completed their research and created The Evolvo-Ray. A piece of technology beyond the understanding of basic humanity that could uplift the common animal into a mutated super soldier. The only unforeseeable flaw was a result of an oversight by Dr. Cortex and Dr. Brio. Mutating subjects was easy enough, but they faced the problem that the uplifting process granted their test subjects the intellect to disobey and rebel.

Which forced Dr. Cortex and Dr, Brio to "store" the bulk of their intended army into the dungeon beneath Castle Cortex. A temporary solution that required the two doctors to work around the clock to find the way to break the minds of the uplifted animals into complete servitude.

And this...

This is the point where our story truly begins once more.

With a pair of uplifted fraternal bandicoot siblings named Coco and Crash in a cell wearing garish generic black and white striped prisoner uniforms just like all of the other mutants in the dungeon.

Crash scratched another tally on the walls of their cell to mark a fifth week since they had been mutated and imprisoned.

It should be stated here that the Evolvo-Ray process sometimes...produced additional effects both beneficial for the subject AND negative. In Crash's case, his strength and stamina had been enhanced. It also came at the cost of rendering him mute.

Coco had been better off than Crash did. Coco was gifted a vast intellect that rivaled Cortex's own.

For the whole five weeks since they were evolved, Coco had been trying to formulate a plan to get out. Despite the multitude of ideas that her brain had cooked up, there was little that the doctors hadn't already thought of as a possibly security risk. Which is to say nothing of how much the stress of their situation had been clouding her mind.

And sleep had been hard to come by.

On one particular night, Coco stopped pacing in the cell and Crash awoke in his bunk when they heard the screaming and crying of another mutant selected to be the next subject for Dr. Cortex's "fix" for free will.

Brushing a matted lock of blonde hair away from her face, Coco watched intently as a blue-furred kangaroo was dragged past their cell by one of the largest, strongest enforcers serving Dr. Cortex and N. Brio.

Dingodile.

The "crown jewel" of Cortex's and N. Brio's hybridization experiments. The bulk and jaw power of a crocodile, the craftiness and stamina of a dingo, insatiable hunger, and an obsessive fondness for fire. A peculiar fondness for fire that Cortex decided to nurture by strapping the Cortex Industries Combative Flamethrower (TM) to the monster's back.

"P-p-please, dear chap! Surely, we can reach some sort of accord other than...THIS." The blue-furred kangaroo, with a peculiar British accent, cried and implored.

Dingodile stopped in his steps and lifted the kangaroo up the ears, "It my call, mate. Now, you can either accept your lot with the Cortex Vortex or you can be my afternoon lunch instead." The monster's voice deep and guttural.

Crash and Coco watched as Dingodile resumed dragging the kangaroo away, still firmly by the ears, and out of sight. Listening until the kangaroo's voice faded away as he was absconded to the upper levels of the castle.

"Well, there goes another one." Coco said, followed by a heavy sigh.

Crash turned his attention back to one of the concrete walls of their cell and scratched another mark with his claws. It was for a different tally. This second tally was to keep track of how many mutants had been taken away and never brought back.

"We've got to get out of here, brother. We've just have to. W-we just need the right moment. We just need one right, perfect moment." Coco whispered softly and sat down on the floor.

Crash sat down next to his sister. His hand taking hold of hers.

* * *

The West Wing of Castle Cortex had always been in a poor state.

Water dripped down from the ceiling onto the already rotting wood floors, the paint on the walls had started to peel, spiders and all manner of insects were locked in an eternal (seven generations and counting) war for territory.

Dr. Cortex considered himself to be generous when it came working with fellow scientists, but the actuality was he had a tendency to lie and cared little for the most of the people surrounding him. He was horrendous at etiquette and professionalism.

Dr. Cortex had initially promised Dr. N. Brio proper room and board, pristine working conditions, and all the resources he would require for both their collaborative endeavor and his individual projects.

The reality was Dr. Cortex only took and never gave.

All of Dr. Cortex's lies, deceit, and manipulations were outmatched by his immeasurable narcissism.

"Cortex Castle. Cortex Vortex. Cortex Industries. Cortex Commandos. Cortex. Cortex. Cortex. I know that narcissism comes with the occupation, but would it kill him to give credit where it is due just once in his life? Ugh. And to think that Cortex is just one Cortex in an entire legacy of Cortexes." N. Brio mumbled as a storm brewed outside.

In Dr. Cortex's mind, he was never liable when things went wrong.

In Dr. N. Brio's mind, Cortex was a poor scientist compared to him.

Dr. Cortex, for example, always refused to acknowledge his share of the blame when things went wrong. Whenever creations malfunctioned or "glitched", it was "never" because of him.

Dr. Cortex had "pitched" the Cortex Vortex to N. Brio as the fix to the disobedience problem that "they" had been struggling with, but the"results"didn't instill much confidence. After all, N. Brio already seen what became of the Thylacine, Koala, and Potroo when they were secured in the machine.

The Thylacine became a dimwit, The Koala became muscle-obsessed, and the Potroo believed himself to be a 1920's gangster.

The Cortex Vortex may have made the minds of their mutants more malleable to their suggestions and commands, but the machine also had the flaw of breaking their minds beyond repair. It was clear the Cortex Vortex was far too unpredictable and faulty, but Dr. Cortex had a low tolerance from anything that he considered criticism.

There had even been direct confrontations between the two doctors where Dr. Cortex had hand-waved all the problems such as personality flaws to be nothing more than "unavoidable quirks", and it had become apparent that Cortex held no regard for the opinions of anyone other than himself.

Unavoidable "quirks", indeed.

There might have been a brief point in time when N. Brio actually considered Dr. Cortex a friend, but any such respect had been easily shattered. Time changes people, and People change over time. There was no contesting that Cortex inevitably betray N. Bro just to have all the glory for himself, but Dr. Nitrus Brio **would** be ready when that moment finally came.

Taking a swig of a randomly brewed concoction from a beaker, N. Brio's eyes turned neon green and a snake-like tongue flicked out his mouth a few times.

Oh yes, Dr. Nitrus Brio definitely had contingency plans.

His muscles..._pulsed_.

And something tethered to the Wumpa Islands knew that everything was moving along on schedule.


	2. Like Dominoes

Disclaimer: Crash Bandicoot is (c) Activision. 2019.

**Crash Bandicoot: The Restart**

**Chapter 2**

**Like Dominoes**

Everything was going along swimmingly, as far as Dr. Cortex was convinced. Mutant Production was still on track, the mining operations were going smoothy, and the construction of the power plant was still moving along on schedule.

Dr. Cortex was feeling rather giddy with optimism, truth be told.

In his inner sanctum, Dr. Cortex watched everything through the massive amount of monitors spread across the walls. All of them allowing Cortex to monitor the progress of his schemes on the Wumpa Islands from practically every conceivable angle. There was next to nothing that could escape his line of sight.

He saw everything!

He saw his vision of the future being built in front of his own two eyes!

His mutant army would bring the world to its knees, every government in the world would fall inline, and he would change everything when he finally unearthed the Power Crystals!

And then! And then!

Dr. Cortex was snapped out of his internal monologue when there was a knocking at the doors of his inner sanctum. Al of the monitors displayed the image of the minion waiting outside the door: Dingodile.

"Oi, Dr. Cortex. Got another one for the, uh, Vortex." Dingodile said, lifting the blue-furred kangaroo up by a foot and giving him a shake, the critter too resigned his incoming fate to even whimper. "I think his morale is pretty much shot though."

Cortex scoffed. "That's never been a problem before, I'm sure it'll be just fine when the procedure is done." Dr. Cortex said, pushing a button on his wrist to trigger the hydraulic doors to part and allow Dingodile entry.

To see what the Cortex Vortex and know what it was designed for was enough to give a person nightmares on principle alone.

At first glance, the set-up was almost comical albeit only briefly...

A simple chair bolted to the floor with restraints on the arms of the chair, and an orb contraction lined with wires, speakers, and screens inside and outside designed to fit over the head of its victims - like some sort of ominous, demonic hair dryer that you'd see in some sort of hair salon of the damned.

The Cortex Vortex chamber was directly below Cortex's Inner Sanctum, and only the most elite of Dr. Cortex's (and N. Brio's) forces knew of the secret elevator platform in the center of the inner sanctum which led to the Cortex Vortex chamber.

Dingodile was one such elite mutant privy to such secrets.

With the kangaroo in hand, Dingodile joined Dr. Cortex on the elevator platform which awoke with a rumble and began to go down, down, down...

"I trust that we haven't been having any problems with the dissidents lately?" Dr. Cortex inquired, impatiently waiting due to the elevator platform's slow descent.

"What? Naw, naw, nothing to worry about. We haven't had any problems. I'm not sure there are even that much of them left anyway. And whatever of them that's left probably know better than to keep up their assaults." Dingodile said, lying through omission.

Dr. Cortex took the information in and nodded curtly, "For your sake, I hope you're right about that."

From there, there was only awkward silence until the elevator platform brought them to their intended destination at long last.

Dingodile secured him the kangaroo into the Cortex Vortex. The blue-furred specimen clenched his eyes shut as the conditioning dome was lowered over his head. This was going to hurt.

With a twist of so knobs and throwing a lever or two, Dr. Cortex activated the Cortex Vortex and the machine hummed melodiously as it went to work.

But here's the kicker.

Something, somewhere else with the castle, there was something causing power fluctuations. Which would lead to numerous unfortunate events as the Cortex Vortex and other machinery within the castle wasn't something that somebody nor nature itself could just blatantly shut out off.

It does more harm to systems than anything good.

On multiple levels of castle, alarms rang out and sparks of electricity flew everywhere.

Stuck in the Cortex Vortex as things went to heck, the kangaroo strapped into the devilish contraption convulsed violently as electricity flowed through his body.

He could only howl an ear-splitting screech.

His jaw cracked as his mouth stretched wider than it should have.

His BONES were cracking as they stretched and elongated.

The sclera of his eyes turned into a sickly yellow color.

His pupils and iris vanished and were replaced by a rotating crimson spiral.

His throat became hoarse and scratchy.

Then the laughter came.

Which was when the power went out completely.

* * *

Throughout out the entire castle, chaos was brewing.

The dungeon wasn't exempt. Due to all the malfunctioning and systems being utterly fried, the cells that had contained hundreds of mutants for so long opened.

What happened next was exactly what would you think: mass amounts of mutants scrabbling in one massive jailbreak.

Firmly grabbing Crash by the hand, Coco and her brother ran as fast she could all while swerving out of the way of the other fleeing mutant animals. Doing their best to keep their grip to avoid getting swept away during the escape and losing track of each other. This was their only shot.

But the narrative doesn't just hand out Bus Passes of Destiny for peanuts

Tripping and nearly being trampled in the process, the two siblings were indeed separated in the madness.

Coco called out for her brother desperately as other mutants pushed past her to ensure their own survival, but Crash...could only hear her without any way to reply.

Sometimes, that's just how the universe plays its cards.

* * *

The Cortex Vortex Chamber had become pitch-black.

There was nothing that Dr. Cortex could see in the dark abyss and no way to return to his inner sanctum with the power out.

Thankfully, it was good fortune that Dingodile was present in the chamber by his side.

"Uh. Doctor? The kangaroo fella ain't the machine no more." Dingodile's voice uttered in the dark.

"Of course, he isn't." Dr. Cortex grumbled.

Giddy, high-pitched laughter echoed in the dark.

And somehow, even beyond any explanation Cortex could have cobbled together, those eyes glowed yellow and the red spirals within them rotated rapidly.

"Dingodile, can you do me a favor and neutralize the threat and then bring me my night vision goggles?"

"Sure thing, doctor." Dingodile replied, excitement building as he readied his flamethrower.

* * *

Meanwhile, in the West Wing of the castle...

Dr. N. Brio was hard at work on a side project with a wrench in hand. Trying to stay focused amidst all the booming, rumbling sounds of thunder, lightning, and the rainfall. Trying to ignore the smell of mildew.

Alongside the beeping alert ringing of the earpiece in his right ear.

Giving the device a quick tap, N. Brio tried to keep the contempt in his voice to a minimum.

"Speak."

"Ssssssir! It'ssssss a jailbreak. A riot! A well-timed conssssssssssspiracy! We can't reach Lord Cortex!" It was the voice of one of the komodo dragon brothers.

N. Brio rubbed his temples, "Just deploy the Lab Assistants and keep me updated."

* * *

Crash was disorientated, lost among the crowd of mutants desperate to escape Castle Cortex, and his heart hammered the longer he was separated from his sister. He had to escape.

Escape…

Where?

Whatever the goal may have been, the horde of mutated animals gradually made their way upward beyond the dungeon. All of them acting as a sea of motion that Crash was swept up in. Stumbling along the entire time and trying not to end up trampled.

It was only when he was able to break away from the crowd and catch his breath that he had realized he had been "swept" all the way outside the castle. Incredibly good fortune, truth be told.

The storm was still going strong.

As Crash attempted to get his bearings, his ears perked as sirens blared across the island. A sound which was followed by what could only be described as a dial-up internet noise from the 90s amplified by a thousand.

Murder on Crash's ears.

In all the cacophony, Crash didn't notice the group of tall, slender men wearing coke bottle glasses and pristine lab coats with rubber gloves closing in one him from behind. When he did notice, it was one hell of a jump scare.

The men screeched their own terrible dial-up tones in sync with the sirens across the island. Their jaws opened and unhinged as they lashed mechanical proboscis towards the instantly traumatized bandicoot. Those soulless eyes behind those coke bottle glasses staring Crash down as he frantically backpedaled until his back bumped against a tree.

The Lab Assistants drew closer and closer with absolutely no room for Crash to run anywhere.

Seemingly caught, Crash gulped as one Lab Assistant produced a large scalpel that was far too large. Crash clenched his eyes shut, expecting the worst.

And then?

Two of the Lab Assistants were swiftly decapitated by an unknown assailant armed with an axe. Sparks of electricity flying everywhere and their bodies collapsed onto the ground.

The Lab Assistant brandishing the scalpel received the "special honor" of the assailant smashing the axe into its face.

...Crash cautiously opened an eye.

The siren sound had finally stopped.

There were pieces of Lab Assistants surrounding him and the one that took them down looked at him with concern in...her eyes.

A tall, beautiful bandicoot dressed in a crimson-hooded coat and steel-toed boats with axe in hand was his savior.

"Are you okay? Nothing injured? Anything bleeding?" She asked.

Crash paused, curious to know that information himself, looked himself over, shook his head, and gave a hand signal generally accepted as a 'a-ok' sign. …

"...Can you talk?" She asked hesitantly.

Crash shook his head firmly. Negative.

She ran through the thousands of the questions flooding her head...

"...We'll figure things out as we go along. Right now, we need to get to somewhere safe. Come on. My name's Tawna by the way." She said and extended a hand.

Crash took the offered hand and smiled.

Maybe things would get better.

Hopefully starting with figuring out where Coco was.


	3. A Most Foreboding Mythos

Disclaimer: Crash Bandicoot is (c) Activision. 2019.

**Crash Bandicoot: The Restart**

**Chapter 3**

**A Most Foreboding Mythos **

_There was a legend passed down through the ages by the original tribe of the Wumpa Islands._

_The world had existed for far longer than most people knew or believed. _

_It existed and provided the people of the world with everything they needed to ensure their survival. Gifts from the Gods to the unworthy people t__hat were incapable of being sated and took everything they received from the Gods for granted._

_The Gods could only watch as the people of the world squandered every opportunity they had been given, and misused the gifts that they had been given to harm one another. _

_Time and time again, the people of the world broke the Gods' hearts._

_Some of the Gods held on to hope. Gluttons for punishment. _

_Other Gods believed that they needed to scrap the world and begin it anew._

_None of them could a common ground._

_No matter what course of actions the Gods chose, there was nothing they could to stop the people of the world from bringing forth their own destruction.  
_

_That much was certain for a long while..._

_Until two minor spirits sought council with the Gods. Two brothers. _

_The brothers offered to prove that the world could be kept in balance._

_Black and White..._

_Good and Evil..._

_Law and Chaos..._

_A world where all could co-exist. _

_The Brothers and The Gods made wagers that the people of The World could be guided. Nurtured._

_The World could thrive, and the people of The World could be prevented from bringing about their own destruction._

_It was at this point that the thoughts and opinions of the Gods split into two schools of thought. _

_One side believed that the people of The World needed to be given the right forms of inspiration. Shown the infinite benefits of creativity, compassion, collaboration, and community over the darker aspects of life. _

_The opposing side believed that the people of The World needed to guided by a firmer hand. Kept in line and well aware of how certain actions can call for drastic consequences. Not out of cruelty, but to make them understand the weight that blood demands blood for recompense. The people of the world couldn't be saved or redeemed without seeing and knowing the pain that their actions caused the Gods. _

_The Gods knew that the decision could never be made through council. _

_Only by chance and wager._

_The two brothers that began the debate would act as the overseers of the thought experiment. Bound to masks, these two brothers would monitor The World for eons to come. Bound to the mortal plane until the final outcome was reached. Only allowed to guide and never manipulate._

_Aku Aku and Uka Uka had performed their duties and they performed them well. _

_Together, they saw many things across the centuries. Good and Terrible.  
_

_Aku Aku held on to optimism._

_Uka Uka suffered an intense disillusionment similar to what had set everything in motion in the first place. Overcome by such despair, he became willing to break the rules. Forcing Aku Aku to seal his brother inside the Earth for a handful of millennia - a lengthy period of time for most mortal forms of life, but a mere slap on the wrist for higher entities. _

_What did Uka Uka do to deserve such (brief) punishment? _

_How heavily did it weigh on Aku Aku's soul? _

_What happened next? _

_How do the legends conclude? _

_Well... _

_Isn't there a more important story you should be paying attention to? _

* * *

Nina Cortex opened her eyes and grumbled at the sound of her alarm clock. A heavy metal hand fell upon it; scattering bits and pieces of the clock across her dorm room.

Slowly and begrudgingly getting out of bed and walking over to the closet, Nina pulled out another alarm clock and set it on her nightstand.

Dreams and nightmares were weird. The prophetic ones were the worse.

It came the territory of being Evil and a student at Madame Amberly's Academy of Evil.

Of course, she didn't tell anybody of the prophetic ones that she had been having for the past few months. Talking about that particular subject openly always led the sort of complications that Nina strived to avoid.

Complications far worse than just being another Cortex - the niece of Neo Periwinkle Cortex, at that - on a campus.

The fewer reasons Amberly and other faculty had to come gunning for her, the better.

Nina glanced down at her large, metal, cybernetic hands reflectively. There were some things in life that there was no going back from.

There were just things you learned to live with.

...

What time was it anyway?

12:35 PM.

Just in time to miss half her classes.

A growl rose from Nina's throat.

"Tropy."


	4. All My Peers Are Heathens

**Disclaimer: Crash Bandicoot is (c) Activision.**

**Crash Bandicoot: The Restart **

**Chapter 4: **

**All My Peers Are Heathens**

There is a reason that you never get on the wrong side of a time traveler.

If you have the misfortune to have committed some unforgivable sin in the eyes of a time traveler, they'd likely go back to some far off point in your past and change every positive you've ever had in life into a negative.

And you'd be none the wiser.

But sometimes there were exceptions. There have been cases where creating poor outcomes would bring about greater consequences.

Natalie Tropy knew that all well after the last major time loops she had instigated. There were many circumstances where Natalie was nearly purged from the timeline completely. All because of Nina Cortex. Each and every time.

Time and time again, Natalie Tropy had painstakingly learned that she couldn't outright attempt to kill or cripple Nina via time travel and come out the winner. She had already been made aware of the consequences if she kept going after Nina the way she had been.

There are always constants. Nina, mysteriously, counted as one.

Plus. nature also abhors time paradoxes more than anything else.

The universe itself always had its favorites.

But that was okay!

Natalie Tropy soon discovered that she didn't need to erase Nina from any timeline nor concoct any grand master plan to kill her with her own two hands. All Natalie had to do was merely make Nina's life miserable through more...conventional and practical means. Thank the Ancients for the loopholes that time travelers and reality warpers could exploit.

Natalie had already stripped the popular vote in the student hierarchy in the Academy from Nina.

Natalie had even gone to certain lengths to ensure that Nina's grades would reach an all time low.

There was just more enjoyment from causing Nina misery along the "slow" path of time.

Not only that, Natalie knew that she couldn't risk her grandfather detecting her again.

There were worse outcomes than the struggles she endured against Nina.

And speaking of which, Natalie was already laughing and chortling with her groupies on campus by the highly radioactive koi pond when Nina had came stomping up to them and ready to brawl. Her lethal mechanical hands clenched into fists and itching for a fight.

"Tropy!"

Natalie pulled back the sleeves of her coat to glance at the watches strapped along her arms. Feigning shock before looking at Nina with contempt.

"What is it this TIME, Cortex?" Natalie Tropy asked coldly, a cruel smirk on her face.

Natalie's groupies snickered together with perfect timing. Obviously starving for her approval and desperate to stay on her good side.

"You know darn well what it is, Tropy! Messing with my alarm clocks again! Doing something with time just to make sure I miss my morning classes!"

"And how is it MY fault that you're too stupid to properly set an alarm clock or stay up so late that you oversleep?" Natalie asked smugly, rolling her eyes.

"You're only one of the few with the abilities to make it happen! None of this happened to me until YOU showed up here!" Nina shouted, shaking with visible rage.

The thing is, dear readers, is that Nina wasn't wrong.

Natalie Tropy was, well, a Tropy.

Time was like putty in her hands, and she wasn't limited to just time travel.

However, her vaguely defined powers could also extend to time keepers as well. Pocket watches, grandfather clocks, clock towers, analog and digital, cuckoo clocks, kitchen timers, and...alarm clocks.

Heck, there was even one timeline where Natalie had confused Big Ben so much that she caused it to wipe itself from existence.

Natalie stood up from her seat on the fountain, brushed herself up and stared Nina down.

"You want to know what else I can do with my powers, you blue-gray goth loser?" Natalie asked coldly, temporal energies flowing through her.

In an instant, Nina blurred as she was trapped in a loop of going backward and forward, backward and forward, backward and forward, backward and forward, backward and forward...and so on until Natalie grew bored and released Nina from the micro loop.

Covering her mouth with a cold metal hand, Ninja struggled to hold back the compulsion to upchuck.

"Here's something for you to remember, Cortex. These days I always hold back. You don't want me to unleash my full wrath on you. Now on run along. Remember that the restrooms are to the left of the greenhouse up ahead." Natalie said, indicating the direction with her fine, absolutely human hand.

Nina darted off.

"...Hey, boss? I thought that the closest restrooms were to the right of the library." One of Natalie Tropy's underlings whispered.

"They are." Natalie replied, beginning to snicker.

* * *

Ripper Roo giggled to himself over and over again.

Not seeming to care or process that he was rather singed and firmly fastened into a straight-jacket and secured to a gurney as a Lab Assistant wheeled him away.

Power had returned to Castle Cortex.

Dingodile growled to himself as he wrapped bandages around his tail. The blighter kangaroo had sunk his teeth deeply into Dingodile's tail. Repeatedly. The hybrid wasn't sure what stung worse the bites themselves or the large amounts of antiseptic that Dingodile had to apply to his wounds.

Meanwhile, doctors Cortex and Brio were embroiled into heated discussion.

"What do you mean that nobody knows what happened with the power?" Dr. Cortex asked.

"I mean those EXACT WORDS, Cortex." Dr. N. Bro shouted back.

"Oh. Right, right, right. So. Your Komodo Brothers that YOU tasked with guarding the prisoners in the dungeon have no idea what happened on their watch. The Potroo that WE tasked to run and guard the power planet doesn't have any clue why MY castle was the only area on the islands suffered the most of the power fluctuations.

And the Lab Assistants are useless as always."

"That is exactly what I'm telling you, Dr. Cortex." N. Brio replied.

"These particular setbacks mean that we'll have to accelerate specific portions of our plans, Dr. N. Brio."

"I'm well aware of that already, Dr. Cortex."

"We'll need to speed up our mining operations, for a start."

"Of course."

* * *

Crash had been following Tawna with no idea where she was leading him until the light of dawn came. Shaking and utterly soaked from the storm.

"Don't worry, we're almost there." Tawna said out of the blue, as if knowing what was going on in his mind.

They eventually came upon a rather large Wumpa tree and Tawna cautiously looked around to make sure they were alone...and knocked on the tree three times. Which was enough for the tree to open up for the two bandicoots.

In actuality, the tree was one intricate and super secret elevator.

Crash looked at Tawna suspiciously.

"I know, I know. I promise that you can still trust me. You've it this far." Tawna said.

Crash paused...and took the risk.

The two bandicoots stepped into the elevator, Tawna pressed an unmarked button, and the two bandicoots were soon enough descending down into the Earth.

"These islands have "belonged" to the Cortex family for a long time. If you know where to look, there are a lot of secrets left behind just waiting for the next Cortex in line to find. Neo Cortex wasn't the only mad scientist in his family, after all." Tawna said, "There are a few of us on these islands that have taken some of the secrets for ourselves."

The elevator came to a jerking stop...and, after a few seconds, started to move sideways.

"I won't bore you with the details of who I represent or what is really going on these islands. Not now, anyway. For now, I believe that there is something more important that you need to see. In just about..."

Tawna looked down at her watch, tapping her foot on the floor...

"Now."

The elevator came to a stop and its doors slid open.

Crash stepped out and looked around.

Everything was well-polished and chrome and...eerily abandoned. Like some sort of defunct factory with assembly lines that hadn't been in use for quite some time.

Confusion gripped Crash at first, but it became a moot point when he saw his sister running up to him and embracing him tightly. All worries and concerns were washed away in that moment.

"Crash! This place is so awesome! There's all this half-finished tech and blueprints and power crystals and an underground city populated by Cortex escapees and a talking mas - "

"So, so familiar and yet so, so different." An unfamiliar voice spoke up.

Crash looked up and was face to face with a floating, yellow eyed wooden mask with three brightly colored feathers atop its "head"

"Hello, Crash. My name is Aku Aku."


End file.
